1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates, in general to clothes washing machines. More particularly, the invention provides a washing machine with a basket-shaped agitator rotatably supported in its washing tub.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
A washing machine which has a rotary basket in its washing tub is disclosed in copending applications Ser. No. 606,149 filed May 2, 1984 in the name of Fumio TORITA, and entitled METHOD OF WASHING CLOTHES USING A WASHING MACHINE and Ser. No. 623,195 filed June 28, 1983 in the names of Shoich IMANISHI and Yoshio IKEDA and entitled WASHING MACHINE.
The washing machines of Ser Nos. 606,149 and 623,195 each have a bowl-shaped agitator which is rotated in alternating forward and reverse directions during washing. The agitator is disposed in the lower part of a washing tub which is itself also rotated during a spinning cycle of the washing machine. When the amount of clothes being washed is small, the clothes are turned by currents of water generated by the bowl-shaped agitator. When the amount of clothes is large, the clothes come into contact with the inner peripheral walls of the washing tub and bowl-shaped agitator, and are moved by frictional contacts between the clothes and the tub.
The above-described washing machine arrangement has certain operation advantages. For example, the various movements necessary for cleaning action can be obtained even when the amount of clothes being washed is large, thus the amount of clothes which can be washed at one time is increased. Excessive and inadequate cleaning can be avoided since the range of the amount of clothes within which adequate cleaning can be obtained is considerable. These advantages cannot be obtained with conventional washing machine, in which cleaning action takes place by generating water currents by rotation of a pulsator (a rotary vane) provided on the bottom surface of the washing tub, or by a difference in speed between the clothes and the water occurs when the washing tub, without any pulsators, is rotated intermittently. However, the above-described washing machine has a washing tub formed such that the internal diameter of the part thereof which is above the bowl-shaped agitator is the same as that of the bowl-shaped agitator in order to prevent the clothes from being drawn into the gap between the inner surface of the tub and the outer surface of the bowl-shaped agitator. With such a washing tub arrangement there is the problem that the amount of clothes that can be washed at one time is reduced because of the smaller diameter of the upper part of the tub.